Posthole auger



June 2, 1925. 1,540,682

J R. DREHER ET AL v I POSTHOLE AUGER Filed July 15, 1921 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 J7? Dre/16f. 0.5. Dre/76L m 6. r. Dre/76 June 2, 1925.

J. R. DREHER ET AL"- POS'IHOLE AUGER' Filed July 15; 192i 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 WITNESS:

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ATTORNEY June 2, 1925. 1,540,682

J. R. DREHER ET AL POSTHOLE AUGER Filed July 15. 1921 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR ATTO in EY witness:

i To all whom it may concern.

the boring operation, permitting of the "ad Vance" or downward movement of the auger,- andtheother of said brakes andthe brake is released, to permit of the rotation Patented June 2,1925, i 1 r U ITED STATES 441m Ti =F -E:

JOHN R. Damien, oHnIss. nannies, AND GUS T. DREHER, 0F Ross, IowA., f

POSTHOLE AUG R,

Application filed. July 15",

Be it known that we, vJOHN R, DREHER,

CHRIS S; DREI-Inn, andGUs T. DREHER, citi Zens of the United States, all residing at Ross, in the county of Audubon and State of Iowa, have invented new" and useful Imcomprisinga shaft and anger per se, a threaded sleeve for the shaft, and devl'ce's 1ncluding a plurality of brakes, one of which serves to hold the sleeve stationary during associated element serving, when first named of the sleeve for lifting the auger.

' Means are provided "for shiftingthe brakes automaticallyso that when thereositing the earth to one side of the mouth oftheholea I quired depth is reached, thefauger iswitlr drawn; A'casmg of certain novel construction receives the'loose earth, the casing be-' ing provided with a discharge chutefor de- In the drawings, Figure 1 1s a v ew of the device 1n e1evation;

of the structure in vertical section;- j

Figure l 1s a view in plan and horizontal section, the section being above the gear ring 31- which is engaged by brake band 33;

Figure 5 is a horizontal section'through the channel frame 69 of Figure 3, the view showing the mounting of pivoted dogs in the cross-head; y e I Figure 6 is a' detail in perspective, show-' ing the cutting blades and spiral of the f auger.

A frame;;10 provides a bearing forv'a pulley 11 ,over which a belt 12 passesto the main pulley 14 of the auger, and belt: passing thencevover pulley 13 and around any. suitable driven element from which the power is derived for imparting movement tothe auger: Thedevice may be conveni:

ently driven "from motor vehicle. The frame 10 includes an upper member 15 providing a bearing 16, and'furtherin cludes an element 17 which carries or has 1921; Serial 4%970.

'formedintegrally therewiththe up ii'fpor' tion 18 of a housing or casing for enclosing the operative members descr bed below.

Theportion 18 of the element 18 serves as V a bearin' the'pulley 1e 1): keyed.

g and receives a sleeve on which The sleeve 20 is provided with internal of the threaded shaft 5, on theylower end of which the auger is mounted;

The lowerelement of the housing designated 23xandincludes an; upper flanged portion 24 and a lower flangedportion 25.1 V

A "sleeve 26 1s internally' threadedfthe 70 thread being engagedby the threads of the mainlscrew or shaft, and theupper portionj of the sleeve is provided with a series of teeth and constitutes afg'ear wheel 27 V which the pinions 28 mesh. These 'pin'ionsf are carried by stems 29 rigidly the flanged portion 30of the sleeve 20. i .1

"The ring 31'is provided with internal teethf 32, the teeth engaging the pinions 28,."and the ringlcooprating with a brake band 33. The lower end oftheslee've 26'hajs thread? ed thereon a. wheel or disk 35 retained a pivoted "at 39 to a lever 40. This lever moves lock nu't 36'. Cooperating with thedisk 35 i'sa brake band 37'controlled by an arm 3'8 about a'oentr'al pivotal andthe upper lend is pivoted to an arm. or rod 42 controlling brake bandl3 3. The lever is rocked an arm 44 connected at45 witha vertical rod 46, and this rod passesthrough a guide 4,7. I Lever49 includes a'hook48 and has a forked end 50,"the forked portion extend ing around shaft 5 and'passingfbeneath nut 01' adjustable collar 51 on that shaft. A spring 52' tends to holdthe forked end in anupper position when released. Vertical rod 46 is provided with notch 46 engaged by hook when the rod 46 is'in its upper'f i position,

' In the'position shown in Figu re 3, neither of the brake'bands engages the element with which I 'itis "associated, but vertical 'rod 46is moved upwardly thelow'er end-"of the" leverf-il'O moves to the left, and the lower brake band 37' is engaged. At this time the'hook 4E8 -engages the notch 46". .The sleeve 26 is held in'a stationary positiom and the. rotation of the pulley 14 andsleeve 20 keyed thereto imparts rotary movement itoithershait i5, because of theengagement e 75 1 m'ountedin required depth is reached, the collar 51 engages the forked end50 of the lever 49 and jdisengages the hook 48 from the notch 46 allowing the rod 46 to move down- .wardly under the influence of the spring 55. The upper end of the lever is now rocked to' the left and brake band 33 engages the ring 31, while arm 38 connected with a the other end of lever 40 releases brake band 37, disengaging the wheel or disk 35.

As the result of the engagement of the brake'band 33 with the ring 31, that ring is held, and the pinions 28 engaging the inner series of teeth on the ring, and also engaging gear wheel 27, impart rotary movement to the sleeve 26, at a speed greater than the speed of the threaded shaft 5 with which the sleeve cooperates. I

The shaft 5' will nowjmoveupwardly,

raising the auger, until the laterally-ex tending arm -58 engages the lowerxend of the rod 46, raising the latter to a neutral position that is sufliciently to throw: the lever 40 to a vertical position, both brakes being released.

The auger per se designated 81 is car ried by threaded shaft 5 and operates within the [tubular casing 61 having connected therewith a spout- 62. for discharging the loose earth beyond the mouth of'the post hole. The chute includes the sidewalls 62 flared as shown. The tube and the chute are connected at v('33 with the frame .64

moving with the crossheadfif), whichcarries arm 58 previously referredito, and

these elements move vertically wit-h. refer-' enceto stationary frame 69. p

TA collar 66 carried by the auger shaft includes an annular projection 68. I A stationary frame 69 of channel bars carries fillers ,70 in the inner sides thereof and dogs 7.1 cooperate with elements 70, bein'gfheld inoperative position by pivoted devices 72, mounted as shown. These devices lastnamed are thrownout of engagement .with.

the dogs when the shaft moves upwardly and they are engaged by the collar 66.

,The frame Gtmoves upwardly, raising the cross head .65 and tube.6l above the ground. On the downward"; movement of the auger'the tube 61,,frame,64;, andv cross head move downwardly untiljthe tube strikes the ground, the tube then dropping and the auger continuing its downward proximately disk-like member, slotted mar-.-

ally at 79, 80, theedges of the slotted portions being deflected as shown. Thespiral 81 extends from the point 82 and presents a surface continuous with the upturned edge of the blade at that point. The spiral extends thence in an upward direction, the lower edges thereof being inwardly turned. The auger is driven at suiiicient speed to throw the earth outwardly bycentrifugal force, and the upper'outward flare of the spiral element tends to throw the earth upwardly while subjected tocentrifugal action. 7 if a lVhat is claimed is: g l a 1. In a device of the class describ,ed,a

threaded shaft for mounting anauger, means for rotatlng the shaft, a threaded sleeve .sur-

rounding the shaft, means for holding said sleeve stationary while the shaft is being rotated, and devices for rotating the sleeve upon the shaft and elevating the shaft when the sleeve holding means are released; said devices for rotating the sleeve including a toothed ring and a brake therefor, a second brake for holding the sleeve stationary, a vertically' movable spring-controlled rod through which the brakes are actuated, and devices controlling the movement of the rod by vertical movement of the threaded shaft.

2. In adevice of the class "described, a threaded shaft for. mounting an auger, means for rotating the shaft, means for moving the shaft downwardly during rotation, and means automatically operated for moving the shaft upwardly while rotating continuously in the same direction a vertical rod, a lever controlled thereby, means for shifting the rod vertically and actuating the lever, and devices independently controlled by the lever for controlling the direct-ion of vertical movement of the shaft.

3. In a device of the class described, a threaded shaft for mounting an auger, means forrotating the shaft, means for moving the. shaft downwardly during rotation, means for moving the shaft upwardly while rotating continuously in the same direction, said means last named including a plurality of brakes, one of which is engaged while the other is disengaged, a lever controlling the brakes, a vertical rodand an arm controlling the lever, locking means for the rod, and

tripping means controlling the locking means. s r a x 4. In a device ofthe class describedfa shaft, an auger carried thereby ,a tubular 5 casing through which the auger passes, a

discharge spout for thecasing, means for rotating the shaft and imparting downward movement thereto, and means; acting to carry the casing downwardly with the shaft for a predetermined distance, the shaft continuing its downward movement after the casing contacts with the surface of the shaft passesydogs on theeross head for 'en-' gagement with stationary means, pivoted devices on the cross head for locking the dogs a and preventing upward movement of the cross head, and means on the shaft for releasingthe locking devices and d g tures.

7 CHRIS S. DREHER. GUS T. DREHER.

20 In testimony whereof we afliX our signa- JOHN: R. DREHERL} s 

